Chapter 6 - THE BOARDROOM RECKONING
The following morning, 9:00 a.m.
The sixty-fourth-floor executive boardroom of Romano Group Headquarters on Wall Street was normally a place of supreme, intimidating power.
Today, it smelled of stale coffee, cold sweat, and rising panic.
Seated around the thirty-foot black marble conference table were the seven principal family bosses and corporate directors of the Romano enterprise. They were old men who had spent their lives managing illegal sports betting, construction rackets, and international shipping.
Sitting at the head of the table was Dante Romano.
He looked like a ghost. His suit was wrinkled, his eyes were sunken and rimmed with red, and an untouched cup of cold black coffee sat in front of him.
"We are down to six hundred thousand dollars in liquid operating reserves," Marco reported, his voice shaking as he read off a printout. "By noon, the payroll for the longshoremen union bounces. If we don't pay them, eighty containers of imported goods sit on the docks in Newark until Monday. The penalty fees alone will run us two million a day."
"What about the line of credit from the Chicago outfit?" Capo Jimmy 'Vole' yelled, slamming his hand on the table. "Can't we leverage our casino stock in Atlantic City?!"
"The casino stock was held in a holding company registered in Delaware," Uncle Salvatore answered grimly from the far side of the table. "A holding company controlled by Vale Management. Serena’s attorneys froze the dividend payouts two hours ago."
"Maledetto!" Jimmy cursed, spitting on the floor. He turned his glare onto Dante. "You ruined us! You dragged us into bed with the Vale family so you could play corporate executive, and then you pissed off Marcus Vale’s daughter for a blonde whore!"
Dante slowly lifted his head, his dark eyes flashing with sudden, dangerous fury.
"Watch your mouth, Jimmy," Dante rasped, his hand dropping toward his armpit holster. "I am still the boss of this family."
"Not for long!" Jimmy spat, leaning across the table. "If you can't get the Vale Trust to open those accounts by 5:00 p.m. today, the board is taking a vote of no confidence. We’ll strip you of your title and hand the family over to Salvatore!"
Before Dante could answer, the double frosted-glass doors of the boardroom swung open.
Nora Greer walked into the room.
She was flanked by three senior partners from Cravath, Swaine & Moore—the most fearsome corporate litigation firm in Manhattan—and two federal marshals carrying heavy leather briefcases.
The room went dead quiet.
Every capo at the table stood up slightly, their hands twitching near their belts, but the presence of the federal marshals kept them grounded.
Nora walked calmly to the foot of the table opposite Dante. She didn't sit down. She placed a single black leather binder on the marble surface.
"Good morning, gentlemen," Nora said, her voice crisp, clear, and perfectly poised. "I am here as the Chief Executive Officer of Vale International Holdings, representing Mrs. Serena Vale."
Dante stood up, his chair scraping violently against the floorboards.
"Nora," Dante begged, his voice cracking. "Tell me where she is. Let me talk to her. We can fix this! It’s a marital dispute! It doesn't belong in a boardroom!"
Nora looked at Dante with mild, cold pity.
"This ceased to be a marital dispute at 2:53 a.m. three nights ago, Dante," Nora said softly. "When you typed five words to a woman bleeding on your floor."
Nora opened the black leather binder.
"I am here to deliver the final terms of Vale International’s restructuring of the Romano Group," she announced, looking around at the old capos.
"Restructuring?!" Jimmy yelled. "You can't restructure us! We’re an independent corporation!"
"You were an independent corporation when Marcus Vale allowed you to use his credit lines," Nora corrected smoothly. "However, over the past three years, Dante Romano signed forty-seven cross-collateralization agreements linking Romano Group assets to Vale Trust loans."
Nora pulled out a series of legal documents bearing Dante’s bold, dark signature.
"In simple terms, gentlemen," Nora continued, sliding the documents across the table toward Uncle Salvatore. "Every warehouse, every shipping container, every garbage haulage contract, and every square foot of real estate Romano Group operates was put up as collateral for loans issued by the Vale Trust."
Salvatore picked up the documents, his spectacles sliding down his nose as his eyes scanned the pages. His face drained of color until he looked like a corpse.
"Mother of God..." Salvatore whispered, his voice trembling. "He... he signed away everything..."
"He signed away everything because he was too arrogant to read the fine print," Nora said flatly. "As of 8:00 a.m. this morning, Romano Group has officially defaulted on twelve billion dollars in cross-collateralized debt."
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Nora leaned forward, resting her palms on the table, her eyes locking onto Dante.
"Vale International has exercised its legal right of foreclosure," Nora declared. "As of this moment, Romano Group is a subsidiary of Vale Holdings. The Romano family owns zero percent of this company."
